12 - Coming full circle

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In five days (on May 8, 2011) this meme will have existed for a whole year.

It is an extraordinary achievement, your extraordinary achievement, to have kept this going well and alive for so long. With thousands of fics and comments, this meme is one of (if not the) most amazing thing I've ever come across. Not only the amount of fic

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Fill: Hattie and the Pirates of Dodrago Cove, part 3a

[anonymous]

Above the clouds, the atmosphere was perfectly clear. The Cruise Dirigible glided in silence, whipping up wisps of vapour below its flexing wings. The open deck was smattered with guests, and, on a red leather recliner laid the master of the ship, Roth.

Roth was an elderly gentleman with a taste for every one of life’s idle pleasures. His cream day jacket was stretched over his globular stomach, and he rather resembled a frilly blancmange with a carrot hairpiece set jauntily on his pate. His face was red with port and he tapped his fingers on the waistband of his trousers to the hum of the gramophone, mounted on the spindly table before him.

A tiny boy in a scarlet waistcoat hurried past him, giggling, golf club resting on his shoulder. He was closely followed by his governess, arms outstretched.

“Mr Roth, sir!” the governess said, skidding to an ungainly halt before her master. “Your youngest grandson has been sending your best champagne flutes flying from the deck with that stolen golf club.” Roth chuckled, and the governess’ lips pursed with displeasure.

“Little blighter. Fetch him some of the cheaper ones then. A few from the old Boulette collection should do.” The governess nodded and slipped away with a tweak of her apron. Roth sighed and settled back, idly watching his guests. Sitting around a small chess table, he spied three very familiar faces and waved.

*

“Granny, darling. Roth’s waving at you.”

“So he is, Peter.” Carla raised a gloved hand and twirled it back at Roth. Peter hooked one arm around Robinson’s neck to steady himself and blew a kiss.

He was balanced in the stout man’s lap to save the servants the bother of fetching another chair. His dark hair had been viciously swept back and a pair of tea shades rested on the bridge of his nose. Four inches of plum silk flashed below the leg of his trousers and his toe rotated in a small circle, one leg crossed over the other. A steady arm wrapped around his waist as he leant forwards to slide the remaining black bishop across the board.

“Will you be dancing this evening?”

“Oh, you know that nothing will stop me dancing. Would you do me the honour of being my partner for tonight?” Peter asked. Carla coloured beneath her powder and reached for her gilded snuff box.

“It would be my pleasure.”

“You never have been able to resist a dance, have you?” Robinson chuckled, bouncing him affectionately on his lap. Peter straightened his neckerchief with perfect dignity and turned down the snuff.

“Never. I am considering throwing a ball myself, though of course I couldn’t rival the glamour of Roth’s little get-togethers. It would be a quieter affair with only a few dozen guests.”

“Where would you hold it? Not on that dirgible of Blair’s?”

“No. It’s got very little open space. I’d borrow a room in his estate. Rosse Hall. There is one grand room which I believe was once a ballroom, only now it’s full of cases of dead insects and half-assembled machinery and the like. I’m sure Tony would be happy for me to move it all and make some space. Oh. Check.”

“How shame-making! I am a silly old thing,” she tittered, nudging her queen to defend her king. She readjusted her rope of pearls and gazed up at Peter, who flashed a feline smile.

“Not at all, darling; nobody would have seen that coming,” he said, gazing at the pieces and pushing his pawn to the end of the board, replacing it with a rook. “I’m just too good a player.”

“And a little too arrogant for your own good too,” Robinson observed, squeezing Peter as Carla swept her queen across the board and captured his last knight. Peter stared at the chequered board in disbelief. Carla could put him in check within a few well-executed moves. He slipped from Robinson’s lap and straightened his jacket.